This invention relates to box forming equipment. More specifically, this invention relates to box forming equipment which automatically folds bottom box flaps and seals the flaps with tape to produce a closed end box. This application is related to the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,678 of common assignment with the subject application.
In the past boxes have been made by removing a folded box blank from stock material stored at a box material supply station and raising and spreading the box material into a box frame. The box forming equipment folds the front and back inner flaps of the raised box material into a bottom opening plane of the box frame and then folds left and right outer flaps onto the bottom opening plane of the box frame to form a bottom plate. The box material is then fed out onto an upward-facing tape head which seals the facing edges of the left and right outer flaps with a single-sided adhesive tape while the box is being transported by a pair of side belts. Satisfactory tape sealing, however, cannot be performed if the box material lifts after being fed out to the tape head. Therefore, a top pressing mechanism controls such lifting over the area from the bottom flap folding mechanism to the tape head. Previously known top pressing equipment contains a vertically moveable piece of flat board whose size can accommodate box material of various sizes.
Although prior box forming equipment has been utilized with some success, previously known top pressing units have been located above the box material, covering the entire surface folded by the bottom flap folding mechanism. Therefore, it is not possible to observe whether or not a normal folding process is performed beneath the flat board. Accordingly, improperly folded bottom flaps may be sealed in an improper form with tape and rendered unusable.
The difficulties suggested in the preceding are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather are among many which may tend to reduce the effectiveness and satisfaction with prior box forming machines. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presented above should be sufficient to demonstrate that box forming equipment appearing in the past will admit to worthwhile improvement.